The New Kid
by Elena Forest
Summary: Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy and Aelita think that life couldn't get better. But what will happen when a boy with a twisted past enters the scene? COMPLETE! Thank you, everyone!
1. Chapter 1: Hello!

**Mark**

A Code Lyoko fan Story

**Rating**: K+ (9 years or older)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Code Lyoko nor do I own Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, Aelita, Yumi, or any other characters.

**Claim**: I do own the characters Mark and Tillie and this story.

**By Elena Forest**

Chapter One: Hello

"Hi-YA!" Ulrich screamed as he stabbed his saber into a Krabe's target. It exploded beneath him. Ulrich landed in a crouch, having jumped from the thing's back only a moment before he would have been blown into a pixel. They were fighting in the Desert Sector.

"Nice!" Yumi cheered before turning to Aelita and saying, "Go! The tower is just ahead!"

"Yea! Don't worry, we can take care of these idi!" Odd jeered, but stopped mid sentence. He had been struck in the shoulder by a Krabe. He started to de-virtualize. That shot had cost him his remaining twenty life points. "Aw man!"

"Be _careful!_" Jeremy's voice came from above Yumi's head. "Yumi! That shot would have de-virtualized you!" For Yumi had jumped out of the way of a laser beam from the nearest Krabe.

"Don't worry, I have it under control." Yumi said calmly. With two short flicks of her wrists, she sent her fans flying. They zig-zaged across each other's paths before slicing the targets on two Krabes.

"That should take care of that," Ulrich said. He had just finished off the last Krabe.

"Hornets at two o' clock!" Jeremy said. His nose was practically embedded into the super computer's monitor. A _whoosh_ behind him let him know that Odd had just arrived out of the elevator.

Odd leaned on the arm of Jeremy's chair. The spiky haired Lyoko warrior let out a big sigh.

"And it was just getting good, too!" He complained.

"Aelita's in the tower!" Jeremy sighed with relief. "We can relax now."

"Like that's ever possible," grumbled Odd.

Aelita was surrounded by blue walls with light blue data streaming upward. She reached the center of the target-like platform and allowed herself to be carried upward.

On a higher platform, the elfin girl pressed her palm into a screen that had appeared.

**AELITA**

**CODE**

**LYOKO**

The sky blue data on the walls paused then, as if on cue, began to fall downwards into the black hole at the bottom of the tower.

"Tower deactivated," she said. Then she let herself slowly fall down the lower platform of the tower.

Jeremy smiled to himself. Once again, he was proud of his friends. They had once again stopped an evil computer virus called XANA from harming people.

"Get ready to be de-virtualized," Jeremy told his friends in the computer. They were on Lyoko, a virtual world created by a man called Franz Hopper, Aelita's father. He was permanently stuck on Lyoko. The only way to stop XANA's attacks was to deactivate towers on Lyoko. XANA activated towers to gain access to Earth.

Ulrich felt the all too familiar feeling of de-virtualization take hold of him. It was like all his senses had disappeared. He felt his feet grow numb, and felt nothing but the numbness that crawled up his legs, through his torso, arms, neck, and finally his head. He was light headed for a moment, just long enough for the darkness to become uncomfortable. Then the scanner opened, and he fell back into the real world…literally.

"Ooof!" The air rushed out of his lungs when he landed.

"Let's get back to the super computer," He heard Yumi's voice from his left.

The samurai pushed himself upright. "Let's wait for Aelita."

"Oh, hey guys, you're back!" Odd said with a smile when Yumi, Aelita and Ulrich arrived.

"Not all of us are _guys_ here, Odd," Yumi said, punctuating her words by rolling her eyes.

Odd rolled his eyes in response.

"You were great!" Jeremy felt a need to break the tension. "We got to Lyoko, de-activated the tower, and all before XANA could launch an attack on Earth!"

"And in time for lunch, too!" Odd's belly rumbled. "Ooo, and they're serving mashed potatoes today, too!"

"C'mon guys, let's split." It was Ulrich who suggested it. The five friends piled into the elevator.

As the doors closed on the super computer, Odd said, "I heard there's a new student coming to Kadic, too!"

***

Meanwhile…..

Not far from Kadic, a dusty bus rolled to a stop. A shadowed figure got off the bus. He held a small suit case by the handle, and swung over one shoulder was a backpack. The person headed for the mall's side entrance.

Following the signs through the unfamiliar mall, the person came to the bathrooms. The door was unlocked on the "Family Bathroom" door, so he pushed inside. He had expected to wait.

They flicked the light switch. The light came on, but only for a moment. They flickered, and did not stop. They continued to flick.

The person dropped his bags near the sink. They put their elbows on the edge of the plaster sink and looked up mournfully into the mirror.

The reflection was strange. The person really didn't know much about himself any more.

Slowly he looked away, and reached into the pack at their feet.

The slender hands held a pair of scissors.

The other slender hand took their long hair-not too long, but to their shoulders-and placed in between the blades of the sharp, silver scissors.

_Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip._

Lock after lock of chestnut brown fell into the sink.

Once again they peered at their reflection.

The reflection hadn't changed much. The same amber eyes, same oval face, same black stud piercing in their right ear.

Only the shoulder lenghth hair was gone.

It was short, the color the same. It was a deep chestnut, but at the ends it was darker, a mahogany.

Once more he reached into their pack. He pulled out a cap, and let his old scissors fall back.

He let one salty tear run down his cheek; he couldn't help it.

So much had happened. He placed the frayed cap firmly upon his head.

The one tear landed on the hair in the sink. He turned on the water and let it fill up the sink. Then he opened the drain.

He watched the hair and water swirl and rush down the drain.

"_Good-bye," _Mark whispered.

Back at Kadic…

Odd's stomach rumbled again. He covered it with one hand a groaned: "I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry," Ulrich muttered sourly. Odd was starting to get on his nerves. "Besides, you're almost at the front of the line."

Ahead of them, Aelita received her serving. "Thank you," the girl in pink said politely. She headed to Jeremy, who was eating in a hurry next to Yumi.

"What's the big rush?" Ulrich asked from behind Aelita. He dropped his tray across from Yumi, next to Aelita.

"Where's Odd?" Jeremy asked suddenly, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"Harassing the lunch lady for another serving of mashed potatoes, as usual," Aelita said cheerily. She spooned a forkful of peas and mashed potatoes into her mouth.

Odd's voice reached them halfway across the cafeteria.

"C'mon, I'm a growing boy, I need food!"

"You're quite scrawny for a growing boy,"

"I'm not scrawny! I'm svelte!"

Yumi cringed, and then quickly recovered as the boy in purple grumpily reached the table.

"Any sign of the new kid?"

"Naw," Odd said, grumpily shoving mashed potatoes into his mouth. "I couldn't get any more mashed potatoes!"

"Such a tragedy," said Ulrich sarcastically.

"I _know_!" Odd yowled back.

Jeremy finished his food. "I want to work on upgrading some stuff about Lyoko," He told the group as he pushed his chair away from the table. "I'll see you guys at dinner. We have the afternoon free, after all, and I can't think of a better way to spend it!"

"I can," Yumi cringed mentally. "I've got to study for a geometry quiz on Monday. I need to study. _Need_," she emphasized the last word a bit dramatically.

"That reminds me," Aelita said. "I got a note this morning. I should go read it. It might be important." She bit her lip and hurried off to dump her tray.

"Maybe it's from a secret admirer!" Odd said, his grumpiness all gone.

"What should we do on this lovely free weekend?" Ulrich asked, his mood a lot lighter than before. The prospect of a mostly free weekend had brightened his outlook on things.

"I'd like to _sleep_!" Odd proposed.

"Like always. Why don't we go somewhere?"

"Okay. But let me change first!"

"Right." Ulrich and Odd dumped their trays and headed for their dorm.

***

"No _way!_" Ulrich laughed. "Not _possible_!"

"Oh but it is!" Odd suppressed a chuckle. "I whish you'd been there, he looked like he was gonna explode!"

"Oh man!" Ulrich doubled over, hugging his stomach. He continued to stumble down the hall laughing for a few steps before realizing Odd was not with him. He turned on his heel and saw Odd standing a few feet back, hi mouth open wide.

"You catching flies?" Ulrich joked.

Odd shook his head. His mouth opened and closed several times before saying, "I think we just met the new kid…and our roommate."

Ulrich's face slowly started to pale when he saw the movers and the priciple come out of their room, as well as a boy with chestnut hair who seemed to be about the his age. Ulrich saw the boy come out last. Slowly he turned around to face his dorm room…and sure enough two burly moving men stepped out of their room along with the principal, , and a boy around the same age as Odd and Ulrich.

His hair fell in his face. It was a chestnut brown, and at the ends it was a dark mahogany. He wore a loose hoodie, with yellow stripes coming over the right should and around the right side. A tip peeked out on the left. The lines were bleeding off a yellow star burst on the back of the maroon hoodie. His pants were light, with a hole in the left knee. On his head at a precarious slant was an old, old, old baseball cap. It was gray, and ratty. On the top towards the right was a rip that had been patched. Ulrich briefly wondered who had patched it. Around the boy's neck was a slender golden chain. Hanging from the delicate gold was a tear-drop shaped turquoise stone.

Mr. Delmas approached the unhappy boys.

"This is your new roommate. I thought he would like to be with two of my good students." He leaned towards Ulrich. Ulrich could feel is breath on his face. He winced away, and the observant principal noticed. "I would like you to show him around. I get the feeling that he is uncomfortable. I'd like you to do what you can to make him comfortable here at Kadic." Of course, Ulrich got the drift that his principal wouldn't just 'like' him to. Ulrich had to.

Mr. Delmas leaned away from him. He motioned to the burly movers, and then the trio of men left. The door closed behind them with a very audio able _thud_. For Ulrich it was like he had closed the door on the Lyoko Warriors.


	2. Chapter 2: Ughhh!

Chapter 2: Ughhh!

Ulrich stood, trying to control his emotions.

_Anger, annoyance, worry, curiosity…_

Odd was the first to recover. The new boy had stood there, hands in his pockets, small smile on his thin lips, studying the boys.

The boy in purple took a big step forward and extended his palm to the boy.

"I'm Odd!" He announced.

The smile on the boy's lips became more pronounced. "You sure are," he said. His voice was smooth and low.

Odd made a little 'hmph!' noise.

"I'm Mark." He reached with one hand and shook Odd's. After sticking it back into his pocket, he leaned sideways, trying to get a better look at Ulrich from around Odd. The smile faded from his mouth.

"Who's your fish-friend?"

Until then, Ulrich had not realized his mouth had been wide open like Odd's had been earlier, hanging at its hinges. He blinked, the came forward, hand out. "Ulrich." He announced.

The two boys shook hands.

"So, do you have a last name?" Odd asked.

Mark nodded. "Tresar. You guys?"

"Della Robbia. Yea, I know." Odd made a face.

"Stern." Ulrich said to Mark. Then to Odd he whispered, "C'mon Odd, let's get to the factory and ask Jeremy to launch a Return to the Past."

"What'll we do with Mark?" Odd responded out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm right _here. _I can hear you, you know." Mark folded his arms, half angry, half curious and confused.

Odd and Ulrich immediately reddened.

"You're lucky. I have no idea what you're talking about. But I don't like when people talk about me like I'm not there when I am very clearly _right here._" He shook his head. His expression melted into a mask of sadness. His arms, which only a moment ago had been folded stiffly over his chest, fell limp to his sides. "Of course," he said softly, so softly Odd wasn't even sure he'd heard it, "I get that a lot." But he recovered quickly, he face once again becoming curious.

"Well," Ulrich said, breaking the momentary silence, "Odd and I have some important business to attend to. So if you'd let us into our room we'll be on our way."

Mark nodded and let the boys pass. Then he followed them into the room. He walked straight across the room, where a bed and a chest of drawers with a book shelf on top now stood. The bureau was a triangle, and fit neatly into the corner. The boy's small suitcase and back pack were laid side by side on the bed.

Mark unzipped the back section of his back pack as the interested warriors watched. He pulled out a big cork board

Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of double-sided sticky-tape.

The strange new boy used his teeth to rip off four big pieces of sticky-tape. He then proceeded to stick the tape to the back of the cork board.

Ulrich and the boy in purple shared a questioning glance as Mark began to pull out various items and use tacks to put them on the cork-board, which now hung precariously on the wall.

Mark first hung notes that may have been passed in class. One script was messy and nearly unreadable. One was cursives, the lower case I's dotted with little hearts; another was simply neat, but pressed hard into the paper. The last and final was big, light, and flighty; little hearts, bugs, kittens, bats, and cars had been doodled around this one, all in amazing detail.

Next Mark hung drawings; all in pencil, some large scenes, others small items from around the house; there was a detailed drawing of a group made of four people. Odd made out names from right to left: Adam, Max, Leslie, Mark. Odd suspected this was a drawing of Mark with his old friends. But…who had drawn it?

Mark took out a collection of key chains, colorful paper clips, and finally one photo.

Mark hesitated, staring down at the photo; it was an unpleasant reminder of the past…what almost was, what was lost.

_Hey, don't worry Em! Friends Forever, rhight?_

_Yea, BFF's!_

_Why not?_

The three voices bounded around in Mark's head. He closed his eyes, and balled his hands into fists. He felt a searing pain strike his heart.

_Adam…_

_Leslie…_

_Max…_

_Leslie…_

_Adam…_

_Max…_

Three names. A million times.

_Friend forever…friends forever…forever…forever…_

The two innocent words echoed around in his head.

_Don't melt down, don't melt down,_

He repeated over and over in his head. Suddenly he realized Odd and Ulrich were beside him, and what it must have looked like to them.

Mark realized he was crumpling the photograph.

_Deep breaths. Deeep breaths._

He told himself, and did exactly that. He felt a warm hand come down on his shoulder.

"Dude, are you okay? We should get you to the infirmary." That was Odd's voice, sounding to Mark as if Odd was a million miles away.

"I'll go tell Yolanda," Ulrich's voice sounded closer, and Mark realized that he was next to his ear.

"N…no," Mark voice broke. "I…I'm fine,"

Ulrich wasn't sure, but said "If you insist."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Odd let his hand fall from the new boy's shoulder.

Mark nodded.

Odd snorted, and almost said "You've got to be kidding me! You shoulda seen your self!" But stopped himself. Something told him not to. Instead he said, "What've you got there?"

Mark didn't respond. He leaned against the wall and smoothed the newly made wrinkle lines. He pinned the picture in the middle of the board, then turned his back so that his new roommates wouldn't see his face harden as he grabbed a map that had been sitting on the lowest shelf of the bureau and said, "I'm going to the cafeteria. You seemed to be doing something before I intruded."  
He gulped, then continued, his voice breaking. "Clearly, I'm not welcome. I'll see if I can make you happy. I'll talk to the principal."

Then Mark walked out of the room, giving up once again.

***

"Talk about first impressions," Odd commented somewhat cautiously.

After he cleaned up in the bathroom (witch took more effort than you may have guessed) Mark found his way to the lunch room.

The boy marveled at how many people had stayed to eat a late lunch. He picked out some people who looked nice; A pretty girl beside to geeks who seemed to hang onto her every word. Mark squinted at her. Had he seen her before? Nah, he decided, he hadn't.

Before getting his serving, Mark picked out three more people who seemed friend-worthy: A blond boy with round glasses who seemed to be working very intently working on a project on his computer. The second was a girl with black hair, who passed Mark as he entered, who had been _wearing_ black pants and a black shirt. Last but not least, Mark chose a boy who seemed to be watching the girl in black. He was eating, and Mark decided to sit with him.  
Mark was heading out of the lunch line when he was nearly tripped by the boy he'd wanted to sit with.

Mark mentally crossed him off his 'To be friends with' list, and decide upon the blond boy working on his computer. He headed off toward the back of the cafeteria.

Jeremy was working so hard on his laptop, he didn't notice the strange boy sit down across from him. He was carefully entering a complicated code, when…

"Hello!"

"Yahh!" Jeremy yelped with surprise. He pushed his glasses to a better position and leaned around the computer to get a better look at the person who'd spoken.

"You scared me," Jeremy accused. "I don't think we've met before,"

"We haven't. I'm new here. This looks like an expensive computer."

"It is. I'm Jeremy." Jeremy confirmed. Then he told Mark the price.

Mark whistled. "Wo-o-o-ow! I used to have a computer like that before…well, before a lot of stuff." Mark was getting a little uncomfortable. He changed the subject.

"So, do you" Mark was cut off by a loud beep emitted from the computer. Apparently it was something to Jeremy that caused him to mutter 'bye,' to Mark then abruptly leave.

Mark sighed, and carried his tray towards a somewhat empty table. A girl sat down next to him, causing him to start. He hadn't expected any one to some up to _him._

"Hello," she said. "I'm Tillie. What's your name?"

Mark smiled easily at the small girl. "Mark," He told her. "I'm starting today."  
"No wonder I haven't seen you before," she laughed. "I know _everyone. _If not by name, by face."

Mark nodded. He opened his mouth to ask a question, any question at all, when the girl abruptly said, "Oh look at the time! I'd better be going! Bye!" She pushed her chair away from the table and with a three-fingered wave to Mark, left. She hadn't been carrying a lunch tray.

Mark sighed and stared glumly at his lunch. He slumped in his chair and began to sadly shove the peas into his mouth. After one bite, he decided he didn't want any more food. Suddenly everything had begun to remind him of his mother.

His _dead _mother. He shoved the now some-what cold lunch into the trash and dropped the tray onto the pile of dirty trays. Then he tramped outside.

_This isn't a good way to make new best friends, _murmured a little voice in the back of his head.

_Head high, shoulders straight, big smile, _He recited in his mind. He did just that, yet again sighing inwardly. He found a bench near the edge of the grounds, and leaned back, surveying the dark forest ground.

Wait. What just moved between the trees? A bear? A raccoon?

No it looked like… like a person.

A flash of blue appeared again, then disappeared in time for a flash of pink to do the same thing. Mark strained his eyes, trying to comprehend what he'd just seen.

A blond boy had been running in the forest with a girl with pink hair.


	3. Chapter 3: Oh NO!

Chapter 3: Oh NO!

"XANA's attacking!" Jeremy groaned as the group crawled down the sewer, Jeremy last. He closed the door-trap after himself, and the group continued down in the darkness.

They ran along in the damp corridor of sewer, coming at last to the skate boards and scooters that they had stashed for an occasion such as this. Yumi, Odd and Ulrich grabbed boards and Jeremy and Aelita grabbed scooters. Then they raced toward the factory.

They reached the factory nearly in record time. Yumi, Odd and Aelita were to be virtualized onto Lyoko first. They stepped in, and Jeremy began the progress. The scanner doors closed on the three Lyoko warriors.

The three scanners re-opened with a loud _hiiiiiiiisssssss._ Ulrich stepped into the one Yumi had been in only a minute ago, the one in the middle. He heard, from the speakers, Jeremy's voice, saying, "Scanner, Ulrich….Transfer, Ulrich….Virtualization!"

The feeling of being suspended engrossed Ulrich, and he felt the feeling of numbness grip him.

Yumi landed in a crouch next to Aelita. Moments later, Ulrich joined them, falling in the same position.

"I see the tower!" Aelita gasped, as the group heard Jeremy from over head, groan about two attacks in one day.

Yumi guessed XANA was angry at the group because they'd de-activated the tower before it had been able to attack.

"Kankrelats, six o' clock!"

The group spun into their fighting stances, prepared to battle.

But there were no enemies in site.

"Are you sure, Jeremy?" Aelita asked tentatively. "I don't see any thing."

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich nodded, relaxing their weapons. Odd cocked his glove, which was actually very lethal. It contained hundreds of shiny silver arrows that killed an enemy in one good shot. He had one on each wrist.

Ulrich, of course, had his trusty saber. His attire was of a samurai. If he stabbed his enemy, it'd be dead within a few moments.

Yumi was a beautiful geisha. This showed through with her Japanese background. The geisha had dangerous, steel-like fans. When she threw them, they acted like boomerangs. When Yumi's fans sliced an enemy's target, they enemy pixilated. So they basically died.

Aelita was nearly helpless. She could alter the terrain around her by giving up half of her life points. It was risky in dangerous situations. But, when played correctly, this power could win them the battle, or save them from loosing the last of their life points.

The others nodded, agreeing with Aelita. There wasn't a single kankrelat in sight.

"WHAT?" Jeremy exclaimed, pushing his black, round spectacles up the bridge of his nose. The red dots on his screen clearly indicated kankrelats heading towards the group that was now standing in the forest sector. They were there…why couldn't Aelita see them? Why could Yumi, Odd or Ulrich see them? The answer came quickly, within a heart beat.

_X.A.N.A._

X.A.N.A. was playing with them! Some how, some way, X.A.N.A. had managed to make it's monsters invisible to the group.

So why could Jeremy see them on the screen?

Once again, the answer came like a bolt of lightning. They were they, physically, and could attack. They merely had a thin code around them, like a membrane, that made them see-through.

In the same instant, Jeremy knew that his friends couldn't fight without a visible enemy. They might harm them selves, or each other. And if they didn't finish these kankrelats, and get to the activated tower to de-activate it, X.A.N.A. would be at a great advantage. It would be able to harm people everywhere! It had to be stopped. The Code Lyoko Warriors were the only ones who could stop it.

Jeremy knew how to make the monsters once again visiable; how ever, he would need Aelita to activate a neutral tower. And X.A.N.A hated it when the gang played with it's toys.

However, they had no choice other than to do so.

"Jeremy?" Aelita's uncertain voice cackled through the ear piece. "You there?"

"I'm here," Jeremy told her. "Listen. You need to get to an inactivated tower and activate it."

"Why?"

"Listen to me, trust me. X.A.N.A. has created some sort code, a membrane that makes its monsters invisible. You can't fight them like this. You'll end up hearting yourself or each other. It isn't wise. I can deactivate it, but only if you can get to the neutral tower. Can you handle it?"

"I don't know," Odd replied warily. "You're the Einstein. You tell me."

"Good," Jeremy said, barely hearing the words Odd had spoken. "The tower is directly north-east."

"Well, how are we going to get there with out" Ulrich began his sentence. He didn't complete it. As he was struck in the shoulder by a red laser shot from an invisible kakrelat, loosing thirty life points.

Ulrich swore under his breath. X.A.N.A was really pushing the envelope now. But what had he expected? A cake walk down mall street on a sunny afternoon? Not when they talking about X.A.N.A, that's for sure.

"Even if we can't see them, they're still lethal," Odd commented in the way of his of sounding light in a serious situation.

Yumi nodded in agreement. "We'll have to run and hope for the best. Our first priority is keeping Aelita safe."

"We should run in a diamond shape, with Aelita in the middle. That way we can deflect any lasers, or take the hits." Ulrich cringed at the picture he had painted in his own mind.

"Hmph," Aelita pouted. "I'm not completely helpless, you know," She said, fake-moodily. "And I'm right here."

"The guys are right, Aelita," Jeremy's voice came from somewhere above, making the warriors look up despite the situation. "You are our first priority."

If they had been on earth, Aelita would have been blushing redder than blood red rose.

Ulrich sensed it before he heard it. Despite knowing he wouldn't see it, he looked over his shoulder towards the sound. The soft _whiiiiiirrrrrrrrr_ of a laser warming up gave away the kankrelat. Ulrich could see the faint red glow of where the monster was. Using his eyes to calculate, the samurai knew that the thing was aiming at Aelita. From then, every to Ulrich seemed to move in slow-motion. Really, it all happen within a matter of seconds, but the boy, it felt like days.

The laser was fired. It moved towards the group, and silently, Ulrich jumped. The laser kept coming. Just as the laser was about to hit Aelita, Ulrich intercepted it's path. Instead of hitting Aelita in the head, it hit Ulrich's torso.

The blast hadn't been the regular beam. This had been one of the kankrelat's rarely used de-vertulize beams. This one had drained Ulrich of the rest of his life points. Now he had begun to disintegrate.

"Thanks," Aelita told the samurai before he disappeared completely.

Ulrich came up behind Jeremy, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Now what?"

"We wait," Jeremy told him. "Once Aelita activates that tower, I can decode the invisibility shield. Once I launch the program, we'll be good to go.

In the mean time, you can never trust X.A.N.A to not launch an attack right away. You should probably go make sure to town is okay, as well as Yumi parents."

"Sounds like a good idea," agreed Ulrich. "I'm on it."

***

Ulrich's heart pounded in his ears as he ran. The forest around him had become a green a brown blur.

He slowed to a walk gradually as he neared the edge of the forest. He poked his head from between two trees, and confirming no one was around, came out from the shelter that the trees had provided for him.

Ulrich glanced at his watch. Class was about to end, and currently the grounds were empty. Not a soul in sight. Ulrich continued towards the science building to check things out.

Not too far from where Ulrich was checking up on everyone, Marc was seeing double vision.

Yup. Double vision. That's right.

Marc saw the teacher standing at the front of the class. But he also saw him stand outside the window. Marc blinked and rubbed his eyes. However, when he opened them, he found everything as it should be. With Marc's mind trying to unravel this strange happening, Ulrich peered into class after class.

_Clear…clean…nothing unusual…normal…_So far, each class had been non-X.A.N.A-fied.

Ulrich finished the hall, and pushed out the door at the opposite end of the hall, at the same time glancing at his watch.

_1:23_

Class would be out in seven minutes. He didn't have very much time until the grounds and halls would be flooded with students attending Kadic. He pushed out of the door and came outside. The school had a very open plan with walkways, arches, benches and many plant potters. There were also vending machines, water fountains and so on. Ulrich turned right, following a walk way to get to the next building.

Ulrich checked each class, and exited on the opposite side of the hall. Ulrich new this was pointless---X.A.N.A. always centered it's attacks at the gang. There was no point in it being in any of the other class rooms that a member of the gang wasn't in.

That's what Ulrich thought.

But he was wrong.

***

Jeremy finally had gotten access to X.A.N.A.'s codes for its monsters. The trip to the tower had been surprisingly successful, as if Ulrich's sacrifice had given the rest of the group a reason to be on the edge. What ever it was that had but their teeth there, it worked. No one else was de-virtualized as the boy and two girls ran across the landscape. Now Aelita waited in the blue tower as Jeremy's fingers tapped rapidly on his keyboard. The boy was busy unraveling the key to the invisible monsters. With a _ping_, Jeremy completed the long string of numbers. A green exclamation point appeared and, once again, it was a job well done.

Right before Odd's eyes, the barren landscape became inhabited. Across the way, he could see several kankrelats appear, as if out of nowhere. The same thing was happening else where.

"So I'm guessing Jeremy did a good job?" Yumi said, relaxing her fans. Odd nodded, agreeing. His purple striped tail swished as Aelita came out of the tower behind them,

"Now the only problem is getting to the activated tower," she said grimly. Before the others could respond, she continued. "X.A.N.A. is really on a roll today. Not only did it make its monsters invisible, but it upgraded them. Jeremy just found out. One shot from its laser, and we're back to earth."

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Well, that's the end of chapter 3! Man, that took a long time. I want to thank everyone who's read this! I'd really appreciate anything you guys have to say about it. Questions? Comments? You know where to put them!

Gee, I feel like an ad. Ya know, buy one get one free kinda thing? Anyway, R&C!

~Elena Forest


	4. Chapter 4: It was an Accident!

I'm back! Yay! Chapter 4! Cool!

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Chapter 4: It was an Accident!

Mark sighed. Dreary day, dreary room mates, dreary people. _Maybe…naw… _Mark pushed away the uncomfortable thought. _No way._

Mark tapped his pencil on the table top, at the same time chewing the inside of his cheek. He scribbled an answer in the next question box, not caring if he answered it correctly.

The impatient boy looked at the clock, and let out a small sigh of relief. The big hand was about to move.

_Ringringringringringringringring!_

The continuous sound of the bell interrupted the teacher's sentence, as well as Mark's train of thought.

"Today assignment is page A27 in the book," He tried to yell over the bell. Mark, seated near the front, barely even heard him. Hugging his books to his chest, his heart aching with memories, the boy practically ran out of the room.

Using his small amount of knowledge of the campus, Mark made his way out of the building. He, however, found it hard to concentrate on finding his way as well as fighting back the tears that had come with the memory that had consumed his mind.

_Flash back…_

"_Good one!"_

"_Not better than yours."  
"No way…yours was better than mine. No denying it!"_

_Mark held the not under his desk and tried not to laugh out loud. Sometimes, his gothic best friend could be one heck of a good time._

_The two boys hadn't dared use their real names while passing notes—that would have been bad if the notes were found on the floor. No, the used code names._

_Mark? MadArt._

_Leslie? The Lizzester._

_Adam was EarthDude (for a lack of a lesser amount of a creative name)._

_And finally, Max was X-Man._

_At the moment, X-Man and MadArt had been exchanging some particularly funny notes. The two hadn't notice the bell beginning ring, signaling the end of class._

"_What are you two still doing in here?" The teacher asked. Startled, the two boys jumped, and looked up. What had followed was an awkward explanation and a warning. Mark and Max and burst into laughter the moment the door closed behind them._

After calming down, they'd had to run to their next class. Each boy had received a tardy slip. Mark recalled the small detail as he came out of the hall and into the sun.

Very near by, Ulrich cursed silently as the outdoor area filled with students. As the bell had just rung, Ulrich was no longer able to search. He would have to return to the factory.

As he turned, the boy noticed something strange.

It was Sissi, the principal's daughter. She was staring as Ulrich, which was normal. That' wasn't what had attracted the boy's glance.

It was the fact that Sissi wasn't surrounded by her usual cronies- Herve and Nicholas- and was standing very much by herself, her face pulled into her usual scowel.

"Huh?" Ulrich muttered to himself. He averted his eyes to the new movement.

Sissi and her cronies were walking out of the history building!

"But that's not possible; it must be X.A.N.A," Ulrich muttered to himself. He glanced where the first Sissi had been standing only a moment ago.

She wasn't there.

If Ulrich had been sure it was X.A.N.A.'s doing before, he doubly sure now.

Ulrich clicked his little ear piece. He was calling Jeremy. The technical boy would want to know.

Ulrich talked as he walked swiftly towards the factory, explaining to Jeremy what he'd seen.

"That's not good," Jeremy said.

"Thank you, Mister Obvious," Ulrich replied. Jeremy ignored the comment and continued.

"At least now we know what X.A.N.A. is doing. For some reason, it's creating copies of people. Maybe…Never mind. Tell you at the factory. Come quick, we need all the help we can get…well support, anyways. We can't really re-vertulize you…"

Jeremy trailed off, and then was cut off by static. He had abruptly hung up.

Ulrich wasn't paying attention to where his feet were going. He was focused on his destination, and it was a wonder that he hadn't bumped into any one sooner. But that was the precise reason he fell over some one now.

That person was Mark.

Mark had been hurrying towards the forest, so no one would see him crying. His new dorm was too risky -- Odd or Ulrich could have been in there. Bathrooms were always crowded after class. Mark decided to follow the path in the wood. Maybe he would run into the people who had been running between the trees earlier. It was your classic two birds-one stone scenario. Find the hikers—which, for some reason, was very important to Mark—and let out his tears.

That was his plan—until he was tripped, and fallen on.

"Oomph!" Mark landed, sprawled, his books now ten feet away. Ulrich, who had been on Mark's legs, stood quickly. Mark however, took a little longer to recover.

Well, actually, a lot longer.

Ulrich groaned. "I'm sorry…Mark is that you? Gee, that was stupid…you okay...?Mark….?"

Mark wasn't moving his eyes were closed, and there was a big red scrape on his chin. His hoodie had been torn on both elbows, and at the cuffs. One pant leg had ripped. The side that already had had a rip was pinkish and sore on the exposed skin. Mark had fallen hard.

"_Oh man, what did I do, he's out cold, oh no, oh no…wait he's moving! He's okay!" _Ulrich's thoughts whipped around his head.

Mark was indeed moving. His eye lips flickered. Ulrich crouched down beside the boy.

"Oooow," The boy, still sprawled, complained. He blinked his eyes.

"Here," Ulrich offered his hand. Mark took it and Ulrich helped to boy back to his feet. Mark was a little wobbly, and using this time, Ulrich made sure no one was staring.

No one was.

Mark looked around, drinking in the sight.

Wait.

Ulrich handed Mark his books. Mark took them from him dumbly.

"Sorry," Ulrich said for the second time.

Mark cocked his head at him.

"For what?"

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Ooooo! Cliff hanger! Hope you enjoyed!

What happened to Mark?

Why is Mark at Kadic?

Will Mark discover on Lyoko?

What wil X.A.N.A think of Mark?

All these questions and more, answered in the next chapter!

~Elena Forest


	5. Chapter 5: Amnesia

Chapter 5: Amnesia

With a spiraling feeling of despair Ulrich realized just _how_ hard Mark had hit his head when he fell.

"Oh, um, sorry for nothing, really," Ulrich said. "Come on. Come with me."

Mark looked at Ulrich funny. "Why should I come with you? Should I trust you?"

"S-sure you can come with me," Ulrich stumbled to find an excuse. "Because we, uh, need to go see the nurse,"

"Why?"

"B-because….uh, because you fell and scraped your chin…?" Ulrich's sentence, which he meant as a statement, came out as a question.

Mark shrugged it off. "So? Don't I always go home with some sort of scrape?"

This surprised Ulrich. "Uhh…"

"Hey, have you seen Adam? Or Max? We're planning a surprise party for Leslie…" When Mark said the girl's name, a strange look came to his eyes.

"No I haven't seen…" Ulrich started to say. His cell ringing interrupted him, and he answered by click a button in his ear piece.

"Where are you?!?!?!?" It was Jeremy, his voice angry and worried.

"I have a…dilemma," Ulrich sighed. "Mind if I bring a guest?"

"OF COURSE I MIND!!! GET OVER HERE!!" Jeremy yelled. Ulrich cringed.

Ulrich sighed as he heard the click at the other end. Jeremy had hung up.

Ulrich looked at Mark, sizing him up.

_As long as he won't remember this, it should be fine, _Ulrich thought.

That was his first mistake.

"Put your books down; come on."

***

"Jeremy?" Yumi's voice broke the deathly silence that had fallen over Lyoko.

The gang had been moving slowly, in a cluster, dodging behind trees and rocks, trying to reach their destination. The activated tower.

When Yumi had spoken, the group was taking refuge beneath a large hollowed out tree. The roots came down in a strange way, crating three openings. The top was only a hole.

After reaching the underside of the safe place, they discovered that they were not so safe after all. Krabes and Kankrelats had them surrounded, forcing Aelita to use her only power to alter the terrain and cover the three arches and top of the tree.

Now they were hiding, and Aelita's power was slowly being drained from her virtual system.

"Yes?" Jeremy's reply was impatient.

"Is Ulrich back yet?"

"No."

"He's not feeling very talkative," Yumi muttered.

"I know how he feels," Odd replied, slumping in the corner.

Aelita said nothing, but her head dropped a little closer to her knees, showing her strain.

Yumi walked over to her, not quite sure what she was doing. She placed a hand on Aelita's middle upper back. Then, closing her eyes, Yumi drew small circles in the air wither her left hand.

"Woe!" Jeremy cried, causing Odd to look up, alarmed. "The enemies are retreating! And Aelita is regaining her strength!" He paused. "Are you doing that, Yumi?"

"I…I'm not sure…" Yumi said, stumbling backwards, away from the kneeling girl.

"Let me run a scan….I knew it! You guys are developing new powers!"

"But…how?" Yumi asked. But she kind of already knew the answer.

Everyone answered at the same time.

"Franz Hopper."

***

"I don't recall the nurse's office being in the middle of the woods. And I would know."

"We're almost there," Ulrich tried his best to ignore Mark. It wasn't working. How ever, with each sentence, Ulrich became more curious about the boy's past.

"Nearly there," he muttered again. Now he stopped, and leaned down.

Mark watched curiously as he opened the sewer lip, the glanced back at him. "Down here." He began to climb down.

Mark peered down the dark hole.

"The sewer? Cool."

***

Jeremy heard the elevator _swish _open.

"Finally," he said spinning his chair to face Ulrich. "You're…."

Jeremy stopped talking when he saw that Ulrich wasn't alone.

"Hey! Nice computer." Mark spoke up. "Where am I anyways? Which brings me to the question…_Who_ am I?"

"Jeremy? Who's there?" Odd asked. He thought he recognized the voice, but it was hard to connect to a face.

"Ulrich…and the new kid."

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Yes, I know that this chapter was WAY shorter than the others. Live with it. I liked the cliff hanger.

~Elena Forest


	6. Chapter 6: Sightings

Yay! Chapter 6!

Just real quick, thank you Lyokolove910 and Peter van Pickle for my first ever reviews! You guys rock hard!

Now, on with the story!

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Chapter 6: Sightings

Odd's face immediately fell. But then something in his mind connected.

Why had Mark asked where and who he was?

Odd glanced at Yumi, who seemed to be having the same thought. She shrugged.

The cat-like warrior looked upwards and wondered when all this would end.

***

Jeremy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He was facing Ulrich, who was watching Mark interestedly, as if struggling to read his mind.

Mark was wondering around the room, gazing at the hollow map, multiple monitors and many wires.

"Leslie would love this place," He muttered.

"What's he murmuring about?" Jeremy asked in a hushed voice.

"Oh," Ulrich responded. "About that." He gulped. "You see, he kinda has amnesia. He won't remember a thing."

"Right…"

***

In Mark's mind….

_Where am I? Who am I? What is this place? What's this map of, and why do I feel like I've been here before…?_

***

"I…can't…hold…much…longer…" Aelita gasped.

"Don't worry. You can let you shield down now," Jeremy said from over head. "The monsters are far away now."

With a small gasp, Aelita stopped glowing, and she straitened her back. "The barrier will hold a little longer, but we should be ready to move…" She trailed off.

Yumi and Odd nodded in agreement, and took to running stances.

***  
Unnoticed by any of the boys in the room except one, a mist like substance leaked from one of the thick wires over head.

"Hey," Mark interrupted the other boys, who were both muttering into the microphone. Both looked up at the one word.

"Yes?"

"Should there be gas...coming out of the wires?"

Jeremy shook his head and look at Ulrich. The two Lyoko Warriors already knew what, and who, exactly, it was.

XANA.

From there things happened pretty quickly.

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This one was a shortie, I know, I know. I can't help it, I'm trying to build up the suspense….


	7. Chapter 7: Despair

Chapter 7: Despair

Seeing their doomed expressions, Mark tilted his head.

"Something's wrong," it wasn't a question.

The three boys stared each other down. The lights suddenly flickered, and then all but died. Now the three sat in semi-darkness.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes. Maybe he shouldn't of brought Mark.

"Of course you shouldn't have," growled Jeremy, reading his mind.

"Ah!" something interrupted him.

"What now??"

"Yumi!"

"Stupid krabs," growled Odd.

"Who's there?" Mark asked out of the blue. "It…kind of reminds me…naw, it's gone."

Mark swiftly crossed the room to the other boys. Ulrich and Jeremy shared a glance. What would happen if Mark's memory came back while he was still in the factory?

The doors swished open behind the boys. Yumi came in.

"That was so stupid of me!" she moaned.

Ulrich put his hand on Yumi's shoulder, silently. The tiny gesture made both blush. Ulrich pulled his hand away, turning his burning face away.

Mark noticed, and looked at Jeremy quizzically for an answer. Jeremy ignored him.

"Odd, you have to make sure Aelita isn't hit!"

"Roger that, Einstein,"

Jeremy rolled his eyes at the stupid nick name.

"Hey," Mark said suddenly to Ulrich. Mark spun around on the heel of his shoe, and the light rays caught the sparkly turquoise stone on the chain around his neck. Ulrich hadn't really noticed it before, but now it had his full attention. "Have you ever been to America? Are when in America now, even?"

Ulrich shook his head yes then no, then replied, "I've seen that stone before!"

Mark shook his head. "Impossible. There is only one other of these in existence! My brother has it."

"Your brother?"  
Mark nodded. "My twin, to be exact. When we were three months old, he disappeared. My mom gave him a necklace with this stone on it. He always wore it…the only reason I know is because I have a photo of us the day he disappeared. We had the identical necklaces….the only other thing I know about him…is that his name is Alex. I don't even know his hair color!" Mark let out a little laugh. "I've never told anyone other than Max, Adam and Leslie. And you." Mark smiled easily.

"That's so sad," Yumi said. She brushed a tear from the corner of her eye. She had a younger brother, and even though he could get really annoying, she couldn't imagine loosing him.

Ulrich was silent. "You're from America, right?" He said eventually. Mark nodded. "And he was your twin? But he was kidnapped?"

Once again, Mark nodded. "Where is this conversation going?"

Ulrich gulped. "And…his name is Alex?"

Mark looked at Ulrich from the corner of his eyes. "Well…yeah. Why?"

Ulrich was about to answer, but just then a loud curse word was emitted from the microphone. The Aelita's panicked voice came on.

"Odd was just de-virtualized!"

Jeremy groaned. Aelita was all by herself.

Jeremy pushed his gasses up the bridge of his nose.

Just then, Odd came in, looking angry with himself.

"Aelita, hang in there."

"What are you going to do, Jeremy?"

Everyone looked at Mark, who was gazing at the visual Aelita had just put on the monitor for Jeremy.

"Mark?" Jeremy said.

"Mark? Who's that? The new kid?" Aelita asked.

"Yes," Jeremy replied. "He's coming to Lyoko. You're really close to the tower, so just try and protect yourself."

"Can we even trust him?" shrieked Aelita as she pulled a rock over and around herself.

"He won't remember it," Jeremy said. Aelita didn't want to, but she had to trust Jeremy.

"Okay," Aelita said. With a sigh, she sat down beneath her rock shelter, prepared to wait.

***

"Wo-o-o-o-o-o-ow," Mark stretched the word until it was seven syllables long. "A giant test tube thing!"

"Go inside one of them," Ulrich instructed him. "Any one of 'em."  
Mark looked at Ulrich from over his shoulder, giving him a curious and tesing look, as if saying, 'I don't _think _so,'.

_I've seen that look before! I know I have!_

Trying not to look shocked, he told Mark to just go in side one already.

Mark took a deep breath, and said, "Just don't close me up in it, okay?"

Feeling a little guilty, Ulrich promised he wouldn't shut the doors on it. Then, bravely, Mark stepped inside the scanner. The doors automatically closed.

"Whoa, whoa, hey! Open this thing up! Let me out! I can't breath! Let me out! I can't breath!"  
There was pounding on the inside. Mark looked around desperately, for a crack in the wall, or something he could get out of there with. It felt like his throat was closing; he couldn't breath, couldn't shout for help anymore. He continued to throw his shoulder against the walls, using himself as a weapon. Faintly, as if coming through a radio with bad reception, he could hear a voice, saying, "Scanner…Mark….Transfer, Mark….Virtualization!"

And then everything became black.


	8. Chapter 8: An Old Memory

THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. THERE ARE TWO MORE COMING. :D

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Chapter 8: An Old Memory

Mark landed on hard ground with a very audio able _thump_.

"Owwww," He complained. He fell to he back and gazed at the virtual sky.

Mark blinked. A moment ago he'd been suffocating in a giant test tube. How did you get transported to a _forest? _

Mark shook his head, and stood quickly. "Okay, where am I? I still don't even know my name!!!" Just then something clicked. He could remember his old friends, he always had, but he remembered….a voice. And a hospital.

"Mark…your parents are dead. We did all that we could to save them, but they had breathed in too much of the toxic smoke. You'll go to France and live with your relatives, okay? You'll stay at a boarding school with your cousin…But rest up for now. You took in a lot of that smoke, too…."

Mark shook his head from his memories, it was too much all at once.

"Mark?"

"Who's there?"  
"It's me, Jeremy. Head north."

"Should I trust you?"

"JUST GO!"

"Right, north, got it," Mark looked around. There was only one way to go, and that was left. So Mark assumed that that was north.

"Do you see a tower?"

"If by tower you mean a white stick with glowy red all around it, then yes," Mark replied.

"Good. Pick up the pace, and I'll run a scan to find your powers. There are a couple Kankrelats ahead. Just keep going."

"Roger Dodger," Mark saluted and ran foreword. "But I'm still really confused. One moment I was suffocating, then I am here."

"You're on a virtual world called Lyoko."

"And?"

"And there is an evil computer virus, XANA, which activates towers to attack us on earth. Aelita deactivates towers to stop a XANA attack. Ah, I found your powers. You can-"

Jeremy was cut off by Odd.

"We have a slight problem, Jeremy,"

Odd just pointed. Jeremy looked to the direction he had indicated and saw… Sissy.

But It wasn't really Sissy. It was X.A.N.A, being Sissy.

'Sissy' raised her hand, and little blue sparks came out of the fingertips. She took a step foreword, and-

Odd and Ulrich pounced, tumbling into the open elevator with 'Sissy'. The doors slip shut and the elevator began to climb upward.

Jeremy continued to Mark as if nothing had happened. "You can shoot lasers like the Kankrelats have, and you shoot them from your hands. You can also use your paint brush to make a carbon copy of anything in the area. And your last ability is that you can make a protective bubble of smoke around your self, and it acts as a shield. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" Mark responded. He twisted around a large rock and in between several trees.

"Um, what's that?" Mark stopped and stood still in his track. He had spotted the Kankrelats up ahead.

"Attack them with your laser. Hit them on the eye-symbol."

"There's, like, four of em," Mark said. "Lesse. They can't see me right now. If I go around this tree and the shoot that one there…yea. Okay. Well…here goes nothing!" He shouted the last three words, and flung himself into action. Lots of lasers were fired, and miraculously, Mark wasn't hit.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at this! Probably 'cause I've done it before! Wait, I've done this before?"

"No." Jeremy responded bluntly.

"Oh. Well, it feels like I have. I bet it was in a dream! Yeah! It was so in a dream."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Just keep going."

"Okay!" Mark was happy to have remembered this kind of thing from a dream.

It didn't take long for Mark to reach Aelita. She was silent as the two of them ran towards the tower, and deactivating the tower went quickly.

"So now what?" Mark asked as Aelita stepped out of the tower.

"A return to the past," She told him.

"Um…what's that?"

Aelita paused. "A return to the past," She said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. (Witch it was.)

And then everything went white.

Sigh. Another shortie. Well, I can't help it; I wanted to get this chapter out, and I wanted to end it there. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about the fight between the XANA sissy and the others. Sorry *hehe* ^^' so anyway, sorry for taking so long to update. I really have no excuse.

ALSO!!!!! There is two more chapters after this before it's over. So stay tuned!!!!!

~Elena Forest


	9. Chapter 9: The Past

No, I am not dead. But here's chapter nine! One more to do!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

Chapter 9: The Past

The lunchroom. He was in the lunchroom.

_What? _Mark glanced around. What? Hadn't he just been in some weird place called Lyoko?

"Lyoko," He mumbled, trying the word. It sounded familiar on his tongue and as Mark recalled the landscape, he realized that he really _had _been there before, in his dreams. Mark looked down and realized that he was holding his lunch tray. His head shot up and he realized Jeremy was still sitting all by his lonesome.

_If I'm right, _Mark thought, his feet quickly carrying him over to where the blond boy sat. _Then I should go over there and do what I did before. _

"Hello!"

But to Mark's surprise, the boy didn't yell and fall over like the original time. Instead he simply looked up and smiled pleasantly. _But wasn't he flaming mad and annoyed just moments ago?_

Mark tried to keep his confusion off of his face as Jeremy spoke. "Hello. I don't believe we've met before; I'm Jeremy."

Mark sat down as he did before. "Mark," he told him. "That's a cool computer you got there! Nothing compared to some of the other stuff I've seen, though," he forced a chuckle. Mark had been thinking of the super-computer he'd seen moments before. The girl, Aelita, had said that the whiteness had been a return to the past. Had Jeremy forgotten about it, or did he remember like Mark did? Somehow, Mark betted on the latter.

"Really now? This is one of the best there is! My name is Jeremy." Jeremy patted his computer contently, a proud look in his eyes. Once more Mark thought of the supercomputer. He noticed Jeremy said 'on of the best'. He obviously had another computer in mind at the moment.

"Mark," He replied.

The black haired girl came up, trailed by the pink haired one. _Yumi and Aelita, _Mark reminded himself. Yumi was holding a book.

"Hey, Jeremy, do you get this one? Aelita can't help me." Mark noticed Aelita held a crumpled piece of paper in her hands, and as Jeremy began to help Yumi with her studying, Aelita's eyes flickered constantly to the paper. There was obviously something big, or important, worrying, sad, excited or new on that paper, and whatever the contents of it was, thoughts of it were eating Aelita's mind.

"Yo! Jeremy! We have a problem!" The shout came from across the lunch hall, and the two boys and two girls turned to see what was happening. Mark blinked when he saw the purple-clad boy and his cousin come bounding out of the crowd. _All here, _Mark though vaguely. _All of them. _When the new arrivals reached within an arm's length of the table, Mark decided to make an announcement.

"Jeremy, w—" Odd started to say, but Mark cut him off.

"I need to talk to all of you, real quick." He said. "Just outside." He cast his eyes over each person, making sure all of them got the message. The group, excluding Mark, shared nervous glances, then began to follow Mark outside.

Once they were outside, pretty much out of everyone's hearing range, Mark started to speak.

"Do you guys know of a place called Lyoko?"

Silence.

"It's a virtual world that I constantly visit in my dreams. I learned just a bit ago that it is, in fact, a real place. Now, do you guys know anymore details about this?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Odd asked nervously.

"Yea, why would we know about some sort of video game?" Ulrich added his two cents.

Mark frowned. "Please don't lie."

The group in front of him exchanged glances and no one spoke a word, until Aelita finally spoke.

"The return to the past didn't work on him."

Mark growled. "Heck yea, it didn't! I remember everything! Just fill me in on details, _please_!" The 'please' sounded forced and brittle. Mark was impatient, that much was clear.

Jeremy sighed. "Okay, we'll explain later—but yes. Lyoko does exist. And XANA and kankerlots and a whole slew of other monsters."

"We're the Lyoko Warriors," Yumi chimed in. Mark just sighed. He'd gotten his confirmation, and now he had a headache.

"I'm going to go back to my room," he sighed. "I'll see you guys later."

***

_Fire. The house was on fire. I coughed, stumbling out of my room. I had a room near the front door. I couldn't breath—the smoke was everywhere. When I had woken I had choked. I had awoken because I had started choking. _

_My parents had a room in the back of the house. I had to make sure they were okay. I was near the front door but I headed deeper into the flaming house. _

_Did they know about the fire? The had to. Were the fire alarms going off? I couldn't tell. _

_Where was their bedroom door? I should have been there by now.  
It was hot. My back was on fire. I saw their door. I touched it and screamed the door felt like it was on fire, too. I choked on my scream. There was no air. _

_My hair was on fire. It was burning my ears. I fell to the ground, choking and coughing. _

_***_

"_Mark…your parents are dead. We did all that we could to save them, but they had breathed in too much of the toxic smoke. You'll go to France and live with your relatives, okay? You'll stay at a boarding school with your cousin…But rest up for now. You took in a lot of that smoke, too…."_

_I was in a hospital. It was white. There was a doctor talking to me. A nice man. My head hurt. My hair was draped over my shoulders. I couldn't move. Well, I could, but I didn't, because if I did break the stillness then I would break. No, my bones would be fine. But I would break. __**I **__would. So I stayed still and listened as the doctor talked although none of the words pierced my inner thoughts. All I thought was that I was leaving, never to return (that I knew of) and they were dead—my parents. _

***

_An arsonist. A syndicate of murderers. That's who they said did it. That's who the police said started the fire. _

_I had gotten out of the hospital a day before. I hadn't seen Mark, Leslie, or Max. My entire house was burned down. _

_I was standing on the curb before the gigantic pile of ashes. _

_The basement was safe, they said. I wanted to see if anything was down there. But first I had to check my room. _

_My hand went to my neck. My necklace was still there. It was, it was, it was. I breathed a sigh of relief. _

_I picked my way through the blackened wood. I found the spot that had been my bedroom, since birth. I got down on my hands and knees, and began searching. I was getting covered in soot, but didn't care. When I found nothing I was frantic. When I found nothing when searching franticly, I became almost at the state of deranged and was rooting through the remains for all I was worth. Tears made paths down my blackened cheeks, my pale skin showing from beneath the soot._

_***_

_Three days out of the hospital and I hadn't seen my friends. On that day, I had found my father's old hoodie, jeans, and cap from when he was my age. They were in a box in the basement and hadn't been touched by the flames. I wore them. I found an old backpack of my mom's and filled it with everything I could from the basement._

_Somehow, I'd found a photo album from when I was a baby. There was a duplicate picture in it of me and my twin. My mom had made copies—I was grateful. _

_I found notes passed in class that I had stashed in a box with old clothing of mine that didn't fit anymore; when my mother had gone on a cleaning rampage and bought me a completely new wardrobe, and moved my old stuff to the basement I had put the notes there. I think I had meant to find them as an adult or something. I don't know, but I sure am grateful to my past self._

_But now, three weeks later, I was boarding a plane to France to attend boarding school with my cousin whom I had no idea existed. _

_I was a different person without my friends and family. I turned to drawing that entire week, that I was traveling. I took several buses and flew to different places, crossing America before finally leaving for France. The first thing I drew was a picture of my old life. A life full of friends, crushes, and family. I labeled it and then sketched whatever came to mind and I drew what I observed, too. _

_And then I arrived in France and started a completely new segment of my life._

_***  
_Mark's eyes shot open. He knew what he was going to do.

Memories weren't always hurtful, were they? No, Mark had decided. _I will no longer run from my past. It's time to embrace the good parts of the past. _

Wow! Wowowowowowowowowowowow! Did I really not update this in THAT long? Sorry for this being on hold for such a long time. Last chapter will be out in a couple days!

~Elena


	10. Chapter 10: Not All That Bad

Chapter 10: Not All That Bad

When Ulrich and Odd entered their bedroom, they were shocked to see Mark re-packing his belongings. Which was really only putting the items that had hung on the corkboard back into his bag. He'd removed all the key chains and paperclips. The drawings were all gone too, but one, and the picture he'd put in the middle of the board.

"Mark…?" Ulrich questioned cautiously.

"Packing up," he replied, turning around. "I'm leaving." These two words brought a stunned silence.

"…what?"

He smiled, obviously proud of himself. "I'm not running away from my past anymore," he told. "I'm going home to America."

"Oh." Odd's reply was short and stunned.

Ulrich turned to his desk and began to rummage around as Mark took the last drawing from the board.

"Mark, c'mere," Ulrich said after a moment. He'd found what he'd been looking for.

Unnoticed, Odd slipped out of the room.

"Yea?" The strange boy turned from the corkboard and strode over to where Ulrich was. Ulrich opened the small box he was holding in his hand and slowly held up the object inside—a necklace identical to Mark's.

There was no stunned silence, no big exclamation. The two boys smiled at eachother, in a silent understanding. Mark took the last photo down, and the corkboard. He picked up his pack and small suitcase, and wheeled it towards the door. Ulrich had fastened the necklace around his neck. Leaving his luggage in the doorway, the two boys stood face to face.

"I've only known you for a day," Mark said. He seemed sad.

Ulrich nodded. "But we have a connection in our dreams, right?"

Mark's eyes lit up. "Yea," he said slowly. "We do, don't we? Here, I'll e-mail you every time I have a…dream, and you e-mail me, 'kay?" He offered Ulrich a small index card with his e-mail address on it.

Ulrich smiled, looking up from the small white card he held, to meet Mark's eyes. "Yea."

And then Mark was gone.

* * *

Oh man! Wow, oh wow! I finished! I finished! I FINISHED! My first story done! I realize there are many holes and problems with this. In the future, I may fix it (but may not!)

I have to thank everyone for reading, those who reviewed, and all who faved and put this on alerts.

You know, my writing really changed throughout all of this. At the beginning I was terrible! And, according to me, I think I got much better.

This has taken nine months. Wow.

Thank you once more, to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-}  
~Elena Forest


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